A/N: this chapter gets a little violent. I think a PG-13 rating is in order!
Early September
The Attack
Yumi had just ducked another one of Sissi's kicks and countered with a leg sweep of her own, sending the larger girl toppling to the ground! Despite the Lyoko Warriors' reunion weekend starting later that afternoon, the two girls decided to hold their usual Saturday morning sparring session.
"Ok, I think I've had enough for one day!" Sissi exclaimed as Yumi helped her to her feet. "I guess with Odd coming this afternoon, I'm having a hard time keeping focused!" While Sissi's anticipation at seeing her fiance seemed to be causing her technique to be unusually sloppy, Yumi's frustration with her own relationship situation had been making her more aggressive, making the match even more one-sided! She walked over and checked the her phone. Yumi felt her earlier aggression ease up a bit from seeing her friend's excitement.
"And it looked like you've got just enough time to get cleaned up before picking him up from the airport!" Yumi teased. After putting on their jackets, the two girls left the gym.
"Jeremy and Aelita are going to be here tomorrow, right?" Yumi asked. Distracted as she'd been, she had been having a hard time keeping everyone's schedules straight in her mind.
"Yep, and Ulrich is also going to be arriving this afternoon. That would definitely give you two some time to..."
"I'm telling him that me and Xavier broke up," Yumi quickly interrupted, "I'll ask how things are going with... Anya... but if things are going well between them, then that's all!" It seemed like Sissi was satisfied with that.
"I was just going to say that you two had time for some catching up!" Sissi smirked. Though you know... Odd and me are going to be spending most of the afternoon with my dad, so if you want a place to talk in private you can use my apartment..." Yumi glared at her friend's obvious insinuations.
"SISSI!"
The tall girl grinned. "And here I thought you'd appreciate the offer!" She teased.
"First, I'm not about to let my hopes get that high. Second... just no!" Sissi kept smirking like she knew something that Yumi didn't.
"Alright, well, here's my stop anyway." The two girls parted ways with Sissi practically skipping as she headed to her apartment.
Yumi finished the trip home and found her house to be empty. She knew her dad was at work, and figured that Hiroki was either with Milly or Johnny. While rummaging through the kitchen for lunch, she found a note from her mom saying that she was at going to be out for a while. Yumi sighed. The last thing she wanted right now was the house to herself with no distractions. Still, her sore muscles demanded relief so after eating a rather unsatisfying prepackaged ramen bowl she headed upstairs and drew up a bath.
As much as Yumi fought against it, her mind started to drift to a certain young brunette man. Fortunately, the soothing heat of the bath was enough to keep her from becoming too upset. Ulrich hadn't been able to nail down exactly when he was going to arrive in France, due to some unexpected delays at the train station, but she knew that he was going to let her know when he arrived. The Japanese woman was certainly looking forward to seeing him again, but also extremely nervous. She had been entirely truthful to Sissi about what she intended to tell him.
After about a half hour of soaking, she decided it was time to get out before she started to look too much like a prune! Making her way back to her room, she sighed yet again and decided to go for a walk. They'd never been her thing before, but after the day she'd met up with William, she had found that just that little bit of physical activity went a long way toward calming her thoughts and had taken one almost every day since then. Leaving her house, she turned left at on her usual route that took her through a couple of neighborhoods and ended up with her passing her right by the factory just before arriving back home.
A little while later, Yumi had just made the turn to where the factory was just visible. She stopped walking as she got the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. After looking around for a moment, she decided to pick up the pace. Just as she was passing the bridge to the factory, a blond haired man ran out of an alleyway in front of her and and another one with a creepy mustache from her side. Both men were rushing straight toward her and she turned around to run only to run straight into a third man...
"Jacques!" Gasped Yumi in surprise.
"Hey there, sweetheart," the man sneered. "Miss me?" Yumi's surprise kept her from reacting for only a moment, but that moment was enough time for the other two men to roughly grasp hold of her arms.
"Not one bit!" Yumi spat just before she kicked at the knee of the person holding her right arm and she used it to pry her left free of her other captor and the sent Jacques staggering back with a quick jab to his face. The woman ran across the bridge toward the factory where she thought she might have the advantage of familiarity and be able lose them in the maze-like back rooms that she knew so well.
When Yumi made it through the entrance, her heart sank as she looked to the right and saw another man with a soul patch. Looking to the left she saw another guy wearing a gray beanie. She stopped in brief indecision, but it was long enough for her to feel a weight hit her in the back of the head, which stunned her and dropped her to her knees. The next thing she knew she was being dragged off to a corner and held with her back to the wall.
Shaking the fog from her Yumi saw Jacques standing in front of her. She also glanced around and saw that she was being held down by Beanie and Soul Patch, with Jacques standing in front of her. Blondie looked to be guarding the entrance, and Creepy Mustache stood a few feet behind Jacques. He was lightly chuckling in a sadistic manner. If looks could kill there'd be nothing left of any of them from the glares they were receiving, but she knew that she didn't have a chance of fighting off all 5 of them.
"What do you want?" Yumi demanded and the dark haired man chuckled.
"You know, I had to pay for the damage to my apartment"
"Yeah, so what?"
"You put the hole there, so you owe me. Today, I'm going to collect," he replied, his voice dripping of malice. Yumi just snorted.
"Good luck, I don't have any money on me!" Jacques laughed and turned to the guys behind him
"Hey boys, she thinks we're looking for money!" His friends echoed his laughter.
"If you did, we'd probably take that too, but I plan on collecting in a different way... and then my boys get a turn." Yumi's eyes shot wide open as she realized what he meant. In a instant she swallowed her pride, sucked in a lungful of air and yelled as loud as she could.
"HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLP..." but her cry was cut short and she saw stars as Jacques' fist met her face.
"We can't have that now, can we." He grabbed her chin and got close enough for Yumi to be able get a whiff of alcohol on his breath. Gathering up whatever saliva she could in her mouth, she spat in Jacques face and took another breath as he recoiled.
"HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPP..." again she was cut short by more pain in her face, but she was prepared to keep on doing this for as long as she was conscious... until she felt Jacques fist in her stomach, causing her to double over.
"Try that again, I dare you," he challenged, knowing full well that she'd be unable to scream with the wind knocked out of her. The knowledge of the inevitable outcome, multiplied by her already tumultuous emotional state overwhelmed her and tears began to fall slowly down her face.
"Aww, she's crying!" Jacques taunted again, eliciting another round of laughter from the others. He grabbed her chin again. "Not so tough now, are you!"
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
Jacques turned around and Yumi jerked her face up at the sound of a man bellowing at the top of his lungs. Through her tears she saw a large figure close with Blondie. Upon their blurry forms meeting, the Blondie flew back several feet only to collapse the ground... he didn't get back up. The newcomer started running toward the rest of the group, bellowing again.
The two guys holding Yumi's arms let go and she slumped to the ground. Wiping her tears away, she was able to see the stranger more clearly. His brown hair was a rather unkempt shaggy mane that nearly reached his shoulders and covering his face was a thick beard. As he closed with the man that was standing behind Jacques, Yumi was able to see that he was also one of the most enormous men that she had ever seen. He slowed just long enough to gather his feet together and execute a kick into Creepy Mustache's chest, sending him flying back. Recovering his footing, the man dropped into a stance that Yumi thought looked very familiar.
Jacques stepped up and tried to throw a punch, but the massive Stranger jammed his hand into Jacques' elbow, blocking the punch. Ducking down to seize the knee of Jacques' leg that was in front, he lifted Jacques off the ground entirely and onto his shoulder before dumping him on the ground behind him head first. Jacques didn't get back up either. The Stranger then dropped into a very different, yet still familiar stance. Wiping more tears away, Yumi realized that the Stranger moved just like Sissi... if Sissi was a full two meters tall and about a hundred and ten kilos! Still, the mix of Pencak Silat and Abrazare was unmistakable to Yumi.
Beanie advanced on the Stranger only to receive a large fist in his face after a feinted chop. There was faint spray of red, and a few small white objects flew through the air then rattled lightly when they hit the ground. He too didn't get back up.
The Stranger seized the wrist of Soul Patch before even had a chance to attack, and pushed sharply on the back of his elbow causing it to hyper-extend backwards with a popping crunch. The owner of the now-ruined elbow shrieked in pain just as Creepy Mustache ran up and started throwing punches into the Stranger's side causing him to grunt and let go of Soul patch. The Stranger turned around and caught one of Creepy Mustache's arms and wrestled it behind his back turning him around. Holding Mustache's arm in place with his left hand, the Stranger delivered a fist to the back of his head with enough force to send his opponent rocketing to the ground face-first.
"You stay down!" The Stranger growled at Soul patch, who nodded frantically and kept clutching his arm.
The Stranger turned to Yumi, who stopped wiping her tears away and just let them fall. She closed her eyes, and quietly sniffed. She gasped as she felt herself get scooped up in the Stranger's arms.
"It's alright now, you're safe now," he said quietly. Yumi clutched at and buried her face in his shirt. Her quiet sniffles escalated into louder sobs. "You're going to be ok," he whispered. "I've got you, Yumi." Amidst all the turmoil in her mind, one question rose to the surface:
How did he know her name?
